Occupancy - vacation home vs rental property

[Matt Lutey]

My wife and I are currently teleworking, as many are, and we are looking to purchase our first property. We live in Southern California and don’t have the funds to pull the trigger here but we’d really like to own a place in Vegas and are looking at buying a condo at 20% down out there. We will be living in and working at the new place for at least 6 months of the first year. 

I’ve been getting conflicting info from different loan agents on whether we could rent out our condo within that first year, as long as we live there at least half the year. 

Does anyone know whether we are breaking the rules if we purchase the home as a vacation home, live in it the first year for six months, then begin renting it out thereafter? Does it depend on the bank? 

Purchasing as a vacation home will save us a lot of money over the long run because of the lower interest rate.